Electric contact device for railway-vehicles.



T. E. CLARK & M. H. HOVEY. ELECTRIC CONTACT DEVICE FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES. APPLICATION men June 2 6, 1916. RENEWED DEC. 9,1918.

Patented. Man 181 1919 2 S HEETSSHEET 1.

WITNESSES:

Armlvns,

T. E. CLARK (Q M. H. HOVEY ELECTRIC CONTACT DEVICE FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE26. I916- HENEWED'DEC 9, 191 5 2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2 5% 11 I H il I r 2 i l. H rl .l ll 2 INVENTORS WITNESSES:

THOMAS E. CLARK, O1! IDE'IROET, MICHIGAN, AND MARK H. HOVEY, OF MADISON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNQBS TO HARRY W. BEGGS, OIE VINCENNES, INDIANA.

nnnoraro oonrncr n'svion FOE'RAILWLY-VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mlar. 18,1919.

firiginal application filed May 27, 1916. Renewed January 20, 1919, Serial No. 271,968. Divided and this application filed June 2 6, 19%, Serial Ito. 105,945. Renewed December 9, 1918. Serial No. 265,972.

States, and residents of Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, and'M'adison, in the county of Danc'and' 'State of lVisconsin, respectively, have invented a new and Improved Electric-Contact Device for Railway-Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the control of the movements of railway vehicles by means of electrical devices mounted thereon and to the governing of these devices through electric currents transmitted to said devices by means of stationar conductors located at intervals alongside the railway track, and its object is to provide improved con-tact devices mounted on the vehicle which shall not only engage with the conductors and re ccive, the current therefrom, but which shall cause the release of retaining devices forming a part of the electrical devices on the vehicle.

' This invention consists, in combination with. a. vertically movable tube having a shoe at its lower end, of a frame in which the tube is slidable, a pair of switch members to which circuits of speed controlling mechanism for'the vehicle are attached, and means mounted on the tube to normally bridge the s ace between the switch members. It furt er consists in combination with said tube, of a conductor of air under pressure, which conductor .is of less capacity than the tube, a cylinder and a spring-pressed piston the-rein,which piston is normally pressed against the spring by means of the air under pressure within the tube, and a switch moved by .said piston to circuit closing position when the piston is under suilicien-t pressure to compress the spring and which is moved to open the circuit when actuated bythe spring.-

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram of an electrical installation of an electrical speed control system for railway vehicles. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. of a contact device adapted to be mounted on the vehicle, Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

These drawings aresubstantial reproductions of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the, drawings of our prior application Number'27l,968 filed May 27 1916, renewed J an. 20, 1919, and this construction of the con-tact devices, independent of the other mechanism. The ramps,

be employed for energizing these ramps. In

the drawings a battery 3 and switch 4: are

shown, connected to the ramp by the wire.

present invention comprises the details of- 5, and to the ground by the wire 6. Either positive or negative current may be sent to the ramp, and for the present case, it may be assumed that positive current will be sent when the two blocks of track in advance are.

vacant, negative current when the first block in advance is vacant and the second occupied, and no current when the first block in advance is occupied. I

, Means are mounted on the vehicle to indi-, cate these conditions, consisting of lamps s I. 7, 8 and 9, which signal clear, cautlon tact devices should-he mounted on all engines liable to cross over from one track to the other and to run backward on either track, and means tocut-out one contact and cut-in the other are desirable.

T he contact devices.

Mounted on the locomotive is a case "14 in which a hollow rod 15 is slidable. To it issccured ahead 16 havinga shoe 17 mounted on it by the bolts 18. The shoe is insu,

latcdi by the sheet 19 and t'hinibles 20. 'Ar wire. 22 extends from the shoe up through the pipe vii collar 24 secured tothe rod the insulated collar 28 when theshoe is down. .When. the shoe is pushed uprby the ramp, the circuit between the wires 29 and i 30 is broken.

At the upper end of the'c'ase I l-is a second case 32. in which .a cylinder 33 1s mounted and. into which the upper endot the tube. 15 extends, a gland 3% being provided to prevent leakage. A= pipe 35 from the main rcservoi 1' of the air-brake system screws into this connection and supplies air. A cylinder 36 has a piston whose rod37 carries a disk 3!) which makes contact between the spring contacts 40, one of which connects to a contact -27 by mcans'of the wire 30. A wire 41 connects to t-lie'other contact 40.

As stated before, it is preferable that two contact devices are mounted on the Vehicle, one on each side. Switches 42 and 43 may be employed to cut out one of these contacts and to cut in the other as necessitated by direction of travel.

I The Wires 29-connect to the wire and that to the .wire 45 which connects to the battery 12. The signal lamps 7, 8 and 9 connect to the wire 46 and that to the wire 47- which extends'trom the valve 11 to the wire 48, which, in. turn, connects to the wire The switch 4.3 connects to the automaticthree-position switch which'controls the oporation-of the vehicle, through the wire 49} In order to prevent the battery from discharging while the vehicle is not inuse, which substantially is equivalent to saying, when there is no pressure in the air'-brake system, a small cylinder52- connected to this system byl'neans of a pipe 51. A piston 53 is forced upward by the pressure of the air to close the gap between the Wires 54 and 55, butfalls when the pressure fails and thus cutsout the battery. s

' The three-position switch is diagrammatically shown. It isprovided with a small motor having field 'windirigs '56 connected constantly to'the battery by means of wires 57 and. 58. Theari'naturc 5!) is grounded by wire (50, and connects to switch-i3 and the shoes 1 7 by means of .vire-'tf). Any well known construction is employed so long as the shaft 63 turns in one direction when current of one character oifldireci ion' passes to the armature overwvire it). and turns in the opposite direction when current of another character passesoi'erthis wire.

bccurcd to this shaft isrouieu-t plate (34 which may bridge between the wires (55 and 66,137 and his. and (Wand It), rcspccti\'el lvires TZ'am-l T3 conucetio the plate (5-1 and to the wire 55 and ihusjo the hattcuv. Au arm 74 extends down "from iliis plate and has asegmental'head which is normally engaged by means otthc illlmltlflt, 75 of the electro rnagnetith A wire 77 connects this '65 magnet to the switch 42.

A speed controller 78 of any desirable construction isniounted at any (lGSile(l,p0Sitime so as to break the circuit between the wire 62 and the wires 65, 61' and (3!) when the vehicle exceeds the predetermined speed for danger, caution and clear conditions. At all other times the selected circuit will remain closed. i

Operation. The operation of the various parts is com paratively simple. The elcctro-magnet normally holds the plate 64: stationary so that thesignal lamp which 'eceived current at the tune the contact device left the last ramp will continue to receive it until the next ramp is reached. hen the shoe 17 engages the ramp, at current passes over the wire 22. switch 43, wire fl-Sto thearmature 63 and wire (it) to the ground, energizing the armature and tending to'turnit. The electro-magnet Z6, arn'iature 75 and. arm 7%, however, prevent such'turning. As soon as the shoe 17 reaches the high point of the ramp, the circuit between the battery 12 and the electromagnet is broken between the contact springs 27 and the armature will release the' arm 74, long enough to permit the armature to turn. If the same condition exists as before, theplate 65.; does not move When the current inthe ramp is proper for clear indicatirinsthe plate 64 will close the circuit between the wires 72 and 66, causing the lamp '7 -to burn. The circuit between the 0 wires 72 and 65 will also be closed, andvthe speed controller will'keep the circuit between this wire 65 and the wire 62 closed, so long as the maximum speed of thevehicle is not exceeded. Should this occur, 'the'circuit to'10 5 the valve il'is broken and the Valve will open toeause anapplication of the brakes until the vehicle slows down to the m'aximum speed permitted.

If the current-in the ramp is that proper for caution indications, the plate 64, when released, will swing to close the circuit between the wires 72 and 68, the lamp 8 being ignited and the lamp Tgoing out.' The eirto the wires tiil and 70, the lamp 9 being ignited and he current passing over the wires {39 and 62 so long: as the speed of the'vehiele is no ,gresten than that determined upon for danger conditions, 'the-Inakes being employed to reduce the speed to this limit if it v the air brake system of the vehicle of sufficient air-conducting ca acity to eafiise the switch to remain normal y closed but of insufiieient cnpaclty to cause it to ryfnam 10 closed when the stem is broken.

' THOMAS CLARK. MARK H. HOVEY. 

